[no subject]

Mark Brown
May 10, 2003

It should be noted that Pete Townshend was cleared
this week - even if he was required to register as a
sex offender. 

When evidence first came to light a few weeks ago that
Townshend was telling the truth about the child
pornography allegations against him, much of the media
reported it from the slant of "Townshend reaches plea
bargain with police" - implying there was some
backroom dealing going on. 

There wasn't. So it's worth emphasizing that this
week's exonerating announcement on Townshend backs up
everything he said about his intentions with child
porn. The headlines convicted him five months ago;
they need to clear his name now. 

In 1999, Townshend was researching for his
autobiography and paid to get into a kiddie porn site
to find out what was in there - a really stupid idea,
if for no other reason than no matter what research he
was doing, he put money in the pockets of the
criminals, thus making a heinous problem worse. 

It came back to bite him late last year when he was
publicly linked with kiddie porn - allegations that
will forever taint his career in many people's minds. 

This week it was announced that Townshend's story
checks out. His computer was absolutely clean of child
pornography; he had done exactly what he said he had
done - taken an ill-advised look for research
purposes. It was a mistake, not a crime. 

Because of that error, he'll be a registered sex
offender in England for the next five years. That's
what the law requires, no matter what his intentions
were in gaining access to the porn site. 

But it's a huge relief to fans that his story panned
out. What he did was incredibly naive, but he was
telling the truth. The man who wrote some of the most
brilliant - and at times, most disturbing - songs of
the rock era isn't a closet monster.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

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